


Lady of the Ring: A Middle-Earth Elsanna AU

by barbara_princess_of_delphi



Series: Unique and Unusual Frozen Prompts/Headcanons: The Collection (non-AU) [9]
Category: Frozen (2013), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/F, Gen, Lord Of The Rings AU, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 08:28:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5701744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbara_princess_of_delphi/pseuds/barbara_princess_of_delphi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna was never meant to be immortal. The only way for her to stay with Elsa forever was to have her spirit transferred from her dying body into Elsa's wedding ring.</p><p>And thus the Fellowship of the Ring sets out on an epic quest to throw Anna into a volcano...</p><p>A canon-movieverse-compliant Lord of the Rings Elsanna AU</p><p>Starring: Elsa (Dark Lord Sauron), Anna (The One Ring), Kai (Frodo), Gerda (Sam), Pabbie (Gandalf), Kristoff (Aragorn), Oaken (Gimli), Merida (Legolas), Unknown Other Characters (Boromir, Merry, Pippin)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady of the Ring: A Middle-Earth Elsanna AU

**Author's Note:**

> Set 50 years after the movie:
> 
> Anna is dying of old age while Elsa is cursed with immortality. In desperation, Elsa sacrifices her powers to keep Anna beyond her appointed years. But with Elsa weakened, her enemies pounce, and the sisters are once again tragically separated.
> 
> Now Anna lives on as a spirit bound to Elsa's wedding ring, journeying across the land in search of her sister, owner, and one true love. Elsa hopes to take Anna back from a hostile world through renewed conquest. The Fellowship is all that prevents a joyful reunion of two eternal lovers...

In response to the unceasing attacks of all the surrounding kingdoms (driven by religious anti-witch sentiment and/or word getting out about the unnatural sexual perversions going on within Arendelle Castle), Queen Elsa goes to war and conquers her enemies. Elsa rules over her opponents with an iron fist and forces them to tolerate her relationship with Anna. 

But years later, Anna’s face is getting wrinkles and her hair is turning as white as Elsa’s, and fresh discontent is rising among the subjects as it becomes clear that Elsa isn’t aging like her sister does.

Immortal Elsa is so distraught at the imminent death of her beloved sister Anna (by aging or otherwise) that she turns to dark magic, despite the warnings of the elder trolls. She transfers Anna’s soul out of her failing body and into the one metal (e.g. permanent) object that holds the greatest emotional significance to her – the wedding band Anna gave to her in the public ceremony following their final triumph 40 years ago.

The spell requires Elsa to sacrifice the vast majority of her inborn powers. Where once she could summon blizzards over entire nations, or raise armies of snow golems with a wave of her hand, now she is exhausted after building a simple ice palace. To Elsa, that sacrifice is well worth it.

When Elsa wears Anna on her ring finger, she can hear Anna whispering to her, her loving companion for eternity. In the daytime Anna is the advisor and sister she always was, while at night Anna's whispers take on a more sensual tone and her magical growing/shrinking/warming abilities in ring form effectively turn Elsa's fingers into a vibrator. But the servants see Elsa talking to her wedding ring, acting as if it’s her dead sister, and think she’s finally gone mad. Most remain loyal, out of fear if nothing else, but it takes only one deserter to fan the flames of rebellion.

The people have already realized that Elsa will never die of old age – her tyranny will last forever, unless they do something about it. They rise up.

This time, having given up most of her power, Elsa can no longer put down the rebels with a mere hand-wave. She is deserted by most of her human subjects and cannot replace her golems fast enough to keep up with the casualties.

On the slopes of North Mountain the witch queen is besieged by the Last Alliance of men (Southern Islanders), dwarves (Weseltonians) and elves (trolls/everyone else?) The fire pots wipe out Elsa’s remaining minions, but Elsa herself seems invincible, until a young hero (Prince Hans’s son/grandson?) cuts her precious ring finger away. Unable to endure the shock of losing Anna’s voice, Elsa collapses and the battle seems to have been won…

The hero takes Elsa’s ring as a prize, unaware of the living spirit contained within. He discovers that wearing it grants him immunity to freezing temperatures, as well as a small amount of Elsa’s sorcery: not enough to build whole castles of ice, but just enough to throw one snowball… or one lethal icicle. Just for that little power, Elsa’s ring becomes an item of tragic contention among the Southern Isles royalty and nobility, ultimately contributing to the downfall of the Southern Isles monarchy through endless assassinations and plots.

The Southern Isles princes never realize that the ring is not merely a passive object of contention – but is in fact malevolently pitting them against each other on purpose, because “it” is really a “she.” The One Ring, formerly Anna, takes particular pleasure in ruining the family of Hans’s descendants, in revenge for her separation from Elsa. Whether in human form or jewelry form, Anna has always had only one true love and one rightful owner – so by her convenient logic, these strange men who wear her on their finger are trading in stolen property, for which the penalty is still death in many less-enlightened kingdoms of the era.

Meanwhile, Elsa’s decapitated head, frozen in the snow atop North Mountain, wakes up in terrible pain. Despite having greatly weakened herself as the price of keeping her sister past mortal years, Elsa’s remaining power had seeped into the snow along with her blood and become preserved in the spot of her fall. When Elsa tries to get up, she pulls a chunk of snow from the ground with her… in the approximate shape of a human body. She soon realizes that the last of her birth powers acted instinctively in self-preservation, and are now stretching themselves the limit to hold together a replacement body of ice and snow for her. With an effort, she brings her icy finger to touch her still-human nose, and there’s nothing to do but laugh. Only a month ago Elsa was empress of all Middle-Earth and now she is nothing more than her own snow golem – servant and master all in one.

From this low point, Elsa’s climb back to power takes centuries. She hides in the woods until things have quieted down, ambushing an unfortunate woodsman to steal his clothing so that she can conceal her snow-body and pass as human. 

Elsa remembers that it was a Southern Islander who cut her down, and surmises that her Anna must have been taken by them. Her sole purpose now is to find her beloved sister again, but Anna is probably trapped in the vaults of the Southern Isles treasury, or else in the possession of one of their princes, hidden behind legions of royal guards. To regain her beloved, Elsa decides that she must once again rise and conquer.

Having lost the ability to project deadly icicles at will (because it literally costs her an arm and a leg to do so – her magic is far more limited now, and when it’s over there impaling her enemy, it can’t be over here holding her snow-body in shape at the same time!), Elsa compensates by resorting to conventional weapons. She travels east, beyond the lands of Men, gradually recovering her strength and taking any opportunity to learn fighting skills. Over centuries she masters the art of swords, spears, and bows, becoming an itinerant knight.

500 years later the Kingdom of the Southern Isles has fallen into internal strife and disintegrated. Princes claiming various descents from the old royal line war for dominance. The strongest remnant of the old Southern Isles is the southern province of Gondor, ruled by the line of Hans’s descendants.

Anna has finally gotten free of her “owners” after causing much mischief and has made her way, through a succession of temporary owners, back to the northwestern region where Arendelle once was. The few surviving Arendellian people were absorbed into the population of settlers from elsewhere, and their descendants now call their home “the Shire”. Here, Anna lands in the possession of two childhood friends Kai and Gerda, who unbeknownst to even themselves are descendants of the ancient Queen Elsa’s old servant of the same name. Kai’s father obtained the ring during unknown adventures (probably involving Pabbie, who doesn’t find out about the ring then). Unfortunately, Kai’s father caught Anna when she tried to get lost from him, and now his son Kai keeps her on a necklace, which she can’t escape no matter how she distorts her gold-metal form. Her quest for Elsa is at a dead end… but so long as she remains bound to the ring by Elsa’s power, she knows that her sister must still be alive, searching for her.

Elsa has risen to become the top military adviser of the backwater eastern kingdom of Mordor, whose army she hopes will soon conquer back the empire that was once hers. Her powers have also improved somewhat from their lowest ebb, enabling her to pull a few tricks as a last resort – on occasion she has nearly been killed by an enemy general on the battlefield, but several of those men appear to have suffered sudden heart attacks just as they were about to strike the killing blow.

In one such battle, during a border war with the rival kingdom of Mirkwood, the enemy force rallies despite the loss of their leader, pushing Elsa and her Mordorians back to their camp. The Mirkwood troops recover their prince’s body and find it ice cold, nearly frozen. His two surviving royal guardsmen insist that no, the Mordorian general never landed a blow, in fact she was losing and on the way to defeat if their own prince hadn’t just keeled over – there are no marks on his body, no wounds that would have been fatal or even mildly impairing – the whole thing is a mystery.

It takes another ten years for the rumors to spread westward. During this time Mordor expands significantly to the south and has the upper hand against Mirkwood and the northern kingdoms. The old king of Mordor, under Elsa’s heavy influence, has been passing many reforms over his reign, turning the once-obscure kingdom into a shining beacon of secularism and tolerance for its time – legalizing divorce, allowing women to hold high offices, unofficially tolerating homosexuals and other “deviant” ways… Neighboring powers, still under the sway of the Church, take an unfriendly view of these developments, especially as Mordor prospers and grows more powerful.

Elsa has sent spies across the land, looking for the usual spy secrets, but also with orders to keep one eye out for a particular gold-and-white wedding ring with an exact description. One of these spies (Grima Wormtongue?), when exposed and captured in the former Southern Isles province of Rohan, repeats this information under torture. A royal advisor who happens to be familiar with the old legends of the Snow Queen puts two and two together. The Rohirrim court sends messengers across the western lands, seeking an alliance of all their rivals to contain the new threat from the east.

Meanwhile, far from these events, Kai trips over a rock one day and meets the trolls (and/or Kai’s father knew them, and Kai meets them that way). Grand Pabbie recognizes the ring he wears on a necklace and explains that it belonged to a great wielder of magic, who turned to the dark side due to fear of death – the downfall of many a practitioner over the ages. Anna recognizes Pabbie, but unsure of revealing herself to Kai, she waits for an opportunity to speak privately with Pabbie, when she’s in his hand being examined by him.

Pabbie briefly takes Anna to an adjacent room and they have a brief argument. Something along these lines:  
_“What your sister has done to you is not right. Your time is long past due.”_  
_“Why should it be? Last thing I remember we were fighting for enlightenment and justice. Maybe we were meant to stick around and bring everyone into a more tolerant era.”_  
_“There are others to continue the struggle you began. You were made mortal for a reason, Anna – you are not meant to linger on as a cursed piece of jewelry.”_  
_“I was meant to be with Elsa. Can’t you see how perfect we are together?”_

Elsa seems to have vanished from history, but recent rumors from the far east have given them a fresh lead to investigate. Pabbie offers Kai a quest to help him take Elsa’s ring to a safe place, while he seeks a way to undo the dark magic within it.

 _ **Alternate Ending A:** Pabbie tells Kai the origin of the ring and urges him to return it to its owner, rather than destroy it. Kai and Gerda are richly rewarded by Elsa and return to their home as heroes. 30 years later, as elderly grandparents to a large household, they are surprised by a visit from Elsa – who has retired from her military service in Mordor to live her next “life” in Arendelle. They become friends thereafter and even get the privilege of wearing Anna for a short time. She profusely thanks them for reuniting her with Elsa and fills them with contentment._  

Main Plot Branch:

Kai and Gerda decide that this will make a nice final adventure before they settle down into the marriage and family that are expected of them. They agree to Pabbie’s quest and spend the next two weeks making arrangements and saying their goodbyes. Then they set out for nearby Bree (formerly Weselton?), accompanied by their two lifelong friends (Rapunzel/Eugene filling the roles of Merry/Pippin?) who also need to check some adventure off their bucket lists. [Optional: they might be a polyamorous 4-way.]

Unbeknownst to them, one of Elsa’s agents overheard the news by chance and rushes to report this latest tidbit. Receiving the news two weeks later, Elsa promptly sends her nine best assassins – the Nazgul (“dark riders”) – to retrieve the precious ring.

In Bree, waiting for Pabbie and further guidance, Kai and his fellow hobbits are accosted by the Nazgul. Just as they attack, they are driven off by a passing knight (Kristoff riding Sven? Or maybe it’s Wandering Oaken). Pabbie arrives later and asks Kristoff (or Oaken, as the case may be) to escort the teenagers to Rivendell where he will meet them again.

_**Alternate Ending B:** Kai loses the ring to the Nazgul at Bree. Now the nine Nazgul face an epic journey to return the ring safely to Mordor, where Elsa desperately awaits. They declare themselves the Fellowship of the Ring (aka the Ring-Wraiths) and make their way south and east, fighting off companies of Rangers pursuing them across the countryside. Their path becomes more difficult when they arrive in the densely populated territory of Gondor, whose king was alerted by Pabbie to keep the Nazgul away from home. When Elsa learns of the numerous Gondorian forces blocking their way, she makes a desperate gamble to lure the Gondorian armies away from her Nazgul’s path by invading Gondor further to the south, thus initiating the War of the Ring. The distraction succeeds (though costing many casualties in battle) and Elsa withdraws back to her own more-defensible borders upon receiving news of the Nazgul’s successful return. She is pursued by the newly-reinforced enemy and makes her stand at the Black Gate, with Anna once again on her ring finger just like old times._

Main Plot Branch:

At Rivendell, the One Ring is found to be indestructible due to Elsa having poured the vast majority of her power into the ring. Pabbie and the other mages fear (incorrectly) that Elsa might regain the use of all her legendary power if she obtains the One Ring again. To prevent this, the One Ring must be dropped into the lava of Mt. Doom, the only active volcano in the land – the destruction of the ring will naturally cause Elsa’s death as well, since the ring holds most of the power that is unnaturally extending her life. Unfortunately, Mt. Doom is now effectively ruled by Elsa, since Mordor’s king values her advice so greatly, and “one cannot simply walk into Mordor.”

Sitting on the table, being talked about like a mere object (and in the context of being used to bring down her own sister), Anna finally yells out in frustration, her voice coming out as a loud whisper to the assembled council. The wise men of the age listen in fascination as Anna tells the true story of two sisters sharing a love across centuries. She pleads for her sister’s life, promising that Elsa will never wage an offensive war in her presence, even though they’ve been apart for five centuries. She pledges to assist the Fellowship on their journey if they bring her to Elsa and equally to hinder them if they seek any other objective.

The council is unconvinced. One wizard haughtily tells Anna that she cannot possibly be “the real Anna” because no one as inexperienced as Elsa could have pulled off a genuine soul-transferring spell on the first try. Pabbie is more open-minded and accepts the possibility that Elsa could have pulled it off given the great power of love, but he states that Elsa’s crime of subverting death is unforgivable. Everything that has a beginning must have an end, and Elsa cannot be allowed to remain an exception to the laws of nature – nor can Anna.

The princes and kings on the council weigh in. They see Elsa as a threat both because of her liberal politics and because her immortality upsets the balance of power among nations. Even if Elsa begins as a beneficent ruler, her fellow rulers do not trust her to remain so permanently, especially given her past use of dark magic which would likely have corrupted her over time. The ancestors of today’s rulers may have unjustly provoked Elsa five centuries prior, but now she has had five centuries to stew over her defeat and plot her revenge. Today’s rulers imagine themselves in Elsa’s shoes and cannot imagine that she would be merciful to them now. In their own self-interest, they advocate an end to Elsa’s reign.

Several of the royals in attendance are distantly descended from the old Southern Isles royal family that Anna so successfully tore apart long ago. They are separate kingdoms rather than a unified empire now because of her machinations back then, and although locked into rivalries with each other, all share a nominal goal of reuniting the old Southern Isles, and all hold a grudge against the One Ring that split them asunder.

As a result, the council unanimously agrees that the One Ring is to be destroyed, together with its bound spirit known as Anna. Pabbie calls for volunteers to infiltrate Elsa’s land and attempt to destroy her ring right under her nose. The four hobbits, one wizard (Pabbie) and one ranger (Kristoff/Oaken) are joined by three more volunteers: Merida the archer, Oaken the axeman (or Kristoff, if Oaken is the ranger), and some Gondorian prince who will play the “Boromir” role. The Fellowship of the Ring is formed and departs on their long journey.

_**Alternate Ending C:** In an effort to sabotage the mission and escape, Anna whispers seductively to the Gondor prince, persuading him to try to take her for himself. Though the Fellowship is broken, Kai and Gerda escape with Anna and continue on their way, while the prince comes to his senses and sacrifices himself to save the rest of the party. Anna realizes she’s come to see Kai and Gerda as friends and regrets betraying them, and finally breaks down after weeks of getting the silent treatment from them. Kai and Gerda may or may not forgive/reconcile with her._

Main Plot Branch:

For the first month or two, Anna alternates between fruitless escape attempts, yelling and throwing tantrums, or sulking in silence. Eventually, resigned to the continuation of the journey, Anna changes her approach and tries to befriend her captors. The Fellowship is suspicious at first, but gradually warms up to her innate friendly personality. Over many evenings around the campfire they learn more about each other than they ever intended. Anna has firsthand knowledge of an ancient historical era and proves to be full of fascinating stories. A turning point comes when Anna forgets to take the chance to escape after an obvious slip-up by the Fellowship. She admits that she’s become attached to her captors just as they have come to appreciate her company, even though they remain mortal enemies. She can’t yet bring herself to abandon her first actual friends after 500 years of loneliness as a ring-bound spirit.

They don’t have the words to say it, but the One Ring might just have developed a bit of Stockholm Syndrome.

Months later, the surviving members of the Fellowship travel through Gondor, and their friendship with Anna (whom they’ve long since stopped calling “the ring” or anything else other than her name) is inevitably strained by the approaching end. The Fellowship is not sure whether Anna will help them sneak into Mordor before she betrays them to return to her Elsa. When the topic is brought up during one evening meal, Anna admits that she herself hasn’t decided when to attempt her final escape. Anna invites the Fellowship to stay in Elsa’s kingdom with her, so that they will not have to separate, but they all must decline out of loyalty to their own peoples.

Kai and Gerda do manage to sneak into Mordor, but the approaches to Mt. Doom are heavily guarded, and Elsa herself has moved from Mordor’s capital and set up camp at the mountain.

_**Alternate Ending D:** Kai and Gerda are captured on their way to Mt. Doom and brought to Elsa. She takes the One Ring from Kai, then announces that next she is going to ride to war and take her revenge on the world that took Anna away from her. Kai and Gerda look at each other in sorrow, knowing they have failed with so many lives depending on them. Except they haven’t – for with their help over the last several months, Anna has returned to the kind spirit she always was, and persuades Elsa to let go of the past, and start over as they are now, together again for eternity. Elsa and Anna ask Kai and Gerda to help them avert the coming war and save thousands of lives on both sides. Kai and Gerda decide to trust the older less-conventional royal couple. They return to Gondor, where an alliance of all the kingdoms of the West is gathering in preparation for war, and pretend that they succeeded in dropping the One Ring into Mt. Doom. Kai tells a pre-rehearsed story about how Elsa tried to stop him and died before his eyes after the One Ring was destroyed, thus allowing him to narrowly escape. Later, as the Men of the West are dispersing to return to their homes, glad that they will not have to march to war, Kai and Gerda privately confess the truth to Pabbie. He is disappointed, seeing that they let slip their one opportunity to “make things right” and remedy Elsa’s crime against magic. But what is done cannot be undone, and for now they can only hope that love, the force that is powerful and strange, continues to stave off the corruption of the two immortal sisters._

Main Plot Branch:

To draw Elsa away from her mountain, the rest of the Fellowship leads a grand alliance of the West to attack Mordor. The Men of the West break through the Black Gate, forcing Elsa to deploy her reserve forces in battle rather than using them to guard the mountain. Finally, after days of battle, Mordor’s lines are breached and Elsa is forced to ride to the front to stabilize the situation. Kai and Gerda sneak in behind her and quietly climb the slopes of Mt. Doom.

On the battlefield Elsa confronts Pabbie and the rest of the Fellowship, realizing too late that they do not in fact have her precious Anna with them. She races back up the mountain to intercept Kai but is too late.

_**Alternate Ending E:** Kai walks up to the ledge, but he cannot bring himself to throw Anna into the lava. She has grown on him, and he now thinks of her as a friend, rather than a sorcerer’s item to be destroyed. Despite Gerda’s urging, Kai puts the ring on instead of destroying it. Elsa rushes in, knocking Gerda aside when she tries to interfere, and grabs Kai and spins him around, sitting him down and begging him for the ring, offering anything he wants in return. Kai hesitantly hands over the ring, Elsa puts it on and then surprises him with a grateful bear hug, during which he realizes that she’s unusually cold… Meanwhile Gerda thinks Kai has been bewitched and desperately tries to “save” her friend, rushing over from behind and stabbing Elsa in the back – except she can’t pull her sword out, as Elsa uses her snow-golem body to freeze the sword in place and then spins around, ripping the sword away from Gerda’s grasp. Elsa grabs the sword and is about to kill Gerda with it, but Anna stops her. Kai and Gerda watch in amazement and realize that their allies were wrong about Elsa, it seems Anna was telling the truth the whole time and she really isn’t an evil ruler at all. Meanwhile, the Fellowship and the Men of the West have fought their way to the foot of Mt. Doom, when they see Elsa emerge from the entrance to Mt. Doom leading Kai and Gerda by the hand. She calls for a cease-fire and to her enemies’ amazement, releases Kai and Gerda back to them without making any demands. The allies are suspicious, but Pabbie is able to confirm that they are not bewitched. Elsa tells the Men of the West that she has everything she ever wanted, and now wishes only to avoid more bloodshed. Tragically, the Westerners do not believe her, and the war continues._

Main Plot Branch:

Kai has just thrown the ring off the crack of Mt. Doom when he’s shoved aside from behind only to see Elsa fall down in despair at the cliff’s edge. “Nooooo!” she cries, much like Darth Vader, a cry so heartrending that Kai and Gerda wonder for a moment whether they’ve done the right thing. It hits them for the first time that Elsa, though immortal, is as human as any of them… her grief at losing the One Ring is not that of a queen parted from her treasure, but rather a woman mourning her beloved. Kai came with the intent of destroying a sorceress’s ring of power, but he now feels the guilt of having murdered a lonely girl who just wanted her older sister back. It had to be done, but he wishes it didn’t have to be him.

Moments later there’s a massive eruption from the volcano as all of Elsa’s powers are cataclysmically released. Elsa’s body suddenly melts apart and her head falls lifeless in the center of the puddle. Kai and Gerda are rescued from the splattering lava by their allies, who have just broken through the lines and are just in time to see Elsa’s demise. “The witch queen is dead!” The cheer spreads throughout the Western army, until they look up to see the massive image of Elsa’s spirit floating in the sky, freed at last. Elsa angrily reaches out towards the Westerners as if to strangle them with her bare hands, her tear-stained face zooming towards them in grief and rage. The frightened soldiers recoil as her ghostly hands reach for them…

Suddenly Elsa stops and looks back – there’s a hand on her ghostly shoulder, stopping her. Anna floats in the sky behind her, giving her an adorable loving look. Both armies watch in awe as Elsa pulls back and turns to Anna with a wondrous smile. The two spirits embrace over Mt. Doom, and then turn and wave to all the men on the ground far below as they dissipate in a gust of wind.

A cease-fire is quickly arranged, and the War of the Ring comes to an end shortly afterwards. Mordor quietly retains some of Elsa’s reforms.


End file.
